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Whats the deal with absinthe?

No, the US brought its laws in line with the EU. 10mg per bottle I believe is the cut off point. Most producers are not making new recipes, its just that some test under the limit and are now imported. The truth is that wormwood/thujone has always just been a cover for absinthe. Its clearly not very active and at doses that it is thujone is a cage nuerotoxin. The effect comes from synergy of multiple herbs. If you have not felt the effects you have shit "absinthe" (note the spelling). This pieces of shit usually come from the check republic and are not real absinth, nor are home made brews. Distillation is crucial to the process. I can assure you that once you try a real and quality absinthe both the taste and effect will settle all of this in your mind. Delicious and out of controll fucked up beyond belief is what you are paying for in a fine liquor such as absinth. Look particularly at reputable french brands.

The two flagship brands now widely available in the US are Kubler and Lucid. Both quality absinths made by experts. And if you were wondering, "lucid" refers to the clear headed intoxication offered by the liquor. I am headed to a festival with a liter of kubler this weekend, I will report on my first impression of this swiss le bleu soon.
 
Absinthe is placebo, at least with modern concentrations of thujone. Check out this (though this is a bit vague):

In the discussion about thujone as possible toxic constituent of the wormwood-containing alcoholic beverage absinthe, the dose-response-relationship is frequently ignored. The effects of absinthe are very often attributed only to thujone, an association that is not scientifically proven. Especially the alleged psychotropic effects of thujone are scientifically unproven. However, the question about thujone effects in absinthe is irrelevant, because thujone is contained in both modern commercial absinthes and historic pre-ban products in such low amounts that a pharmacological effect can be excluded per se. The effects of the spirit that are summarized under the term absinthism observed in late 19th century's France, can be explained by chronic alcohol misuse and dependence alone according to today's standards of knowledge. Especially from the perspective of youth and public health protection, an ambiguous and biased reporting about absinthe should be avoided. For example, the alleged antagonistic effects of thujone on the action of ethanol might lead to a trivialization of alcohol-related harms. Scientifically unproven speculations about the influence of certain drinking rituals of absinthe on its toxicity must be rebutted. A return to more evidence and less conjecture in the reporting about absinthe would be desirable.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...ez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
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I had played around with wormwood oil a number of years back, reducing it down to a resin and experimenting with it. Terrible stuff, a psychoactive dose is likely quite toxic. The only thing it induced was some delirious CNS-stimulation/tremor (toxicity), not enjoyable in any sense.

delta_9 said:
Thujone acts on the GABA receptors and exhibits very slight psychoactive effects, if any. QUOTE]
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You're right, it does act on the GABA receptors, but it is an antagonist. Anyone want to snort some lines of flumazenil with me later on?

Any effect from absinthe would likely be placebo, so it is worthless unless you like the taste of wormwood oil, which is simply disgusting (especially after having dealt with the essential oil). My apartment smelled like wormwood for weeks.

But I must say, people must feel really cool when drinking it.
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Absinthe was the worst alcoholic drink I ever had. The wormwood is extremely bitter. Simply put, it tastes like shit.
 
Do different alcohols give different drunkness? I find beer, whiskey and vodka all have different feelings to them. Maybe absynthe is just unique.

Red wine definitely gives a small rush of euphoria on the first glass, IIRC it's proven that there is some chemical that causes that, but the poisoning the day after is probably second only to black sambuca.
 
Have had absinthe quite a lot. Never experienced anything more than getting shitfaced, as one would expect on something with that amount of alcohol in.
Have a reasonably high alcohol tolerance too.
 
Ive always wondered if I would see the green fairy!!! Im guessing its nothing like Euro Trip...lol
 
hexxx said:
Red wine definitely gives a small rush of euphoria on the first glass, IIRC it's proven that there is some chemical that causes that, but the poisoning the day after is probably second only to black sambuca.
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There's GHB in red wine, amongst other things.
 
ok, I just had to respond to this thread, given my avitar...:)

None of the absinthe sold today is true absinthe.....in the old days, absinthe contained about 200mg+ of thujone/kg PLUS many other psychoactive compounds...worse still, heavy metals were often present, which accounted for the absinthe poisoning that occurred..

modern absinthe in Europe is typically restricted to a limit of 10mg/kg of thujone...some claim in their ads to have 100mg/kg, don't beleive it, it would be illegal, that's hype and bullshit.....I've had the absinthe from the Sebor distillery in Czechoslavakia and it is mediocre at best...

If you want a good absinthe, make your own, it's easy to do and wormwood will grow just about anywhere....just be careful and don't overdo it, there's not much to be gained by using large amounts of the wormwood herb....as a good rule of thumb, use one ounce of chopped up wormwood to a quart of liquor, and distill the end product if you want a true absinthe..

Better yet, don't bother...once I discovered the wonders of the papavar somniferum flower, absinthe and all other second-rate highs became obsolete...
 
i had some absinthe in mexico a while back and did experience some definite psychotropic effects that were quite enjoyable. i felt as though i was pretty drunk yet completely clear-headed and came up with some really out of the ordinary thought processes and things relating to life and the after life similar to a mild mushroom trip. there was no hallucinations but there was definitely something there besides alcohol. it was a definitely a fun experience.
 
"You're right, it does act on the GABA receptors, but it is an antagonist. Anyone want to snort some lines of flumazenil with me later on?"

What's your point?

It is a GABA-A antagonist, which points to a possible modification of the "regular" psychoactive effects from alcohol.

I am not sure I believe the allegations that thujone's dose is too low to do anything. It seems like they're using as a reference ... doses that produced seizures in rats?

We do know that flumazenil has a lot more of an obvious subjective effect, when GABA is being stimulated, eh?

If we had some of the sedation of alcohol stripped away, then we might have something like a more activating (though still not adrenergic) dopaminergic substance ... which might fall right in line with the great deal of subjective experience reports (ignored by the scientific community) which mention a more alert, creative drunkenness.
 
The deal with absinthe

Okay I made this post because A) people seem to be misunderstanding the nature of thujone and B) people tend to skim long threads.

Absinthe is really just a high-proof liquor with an interesting taste. Thujone acts on the GABA receptors (the same ones ethanol and benzos act on,) but it's a GABA antagonist. This means thujone has the opposite effect of benzos. It will excite and agitate, rather than depress and relax.

Drinking absinthe with even a high level of thujone will effect you less than drinking an equivalent amount of regular liquor. Thujone in fact counteracts the effects of the alcohol. However, it is a rather enjoyable drink when properly prepared, I must add.
 
From now on when there is already a thread on a topic you want to discuss, post in that thread. Dont make a new one.
 
No, look:

>Absinthe is really just a high-proof liquor with an interesting taste.

Unlike the lobbyists who were working to get an OK for absinthe from the EU, I don't believe that this is likely at all.

>Thujone acts on the GABA receptors (the same ones ethanol and benzos act on,) but it's a GABA antagonist.

Yep.

>This means thujone has the opposite effect of benzos. It will excite and agitate, rather than depress and relax.

Right, and this means that absinthe has no additional effect from the thujone ... why? Obviously if active, the thujone CHANGES THE EXPERIENCE.

Note that people's experience reports often tend to report a more stimulated drunkenness.

>Drinking absinthe with even a high level of thujone will effect you less than drinking an equivalent amount of regular liquor.

Except that ... alcohol has NUMEROUS effects, and not all of them stem downstream from GABA agonism. Dopaminergic, NMDA antagonism at certain sites, etc.

>Thujone in fact counteracts the effects of the alcohol.

It, in theory, counteracts one effect, leaving you with a DIFFERENT OVERALL EFFECT.

Reread my post plz
 
It is a GABA-A antagonist, which points to a possible modification of the "regular" psychoactive effects from alcohol.

I am not sure I believe the allegations that thujone's dose is too low to do anything. It seems like they're using as a reference ... doses that produced seizures in rats?
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Ah, no they're basing it upon Ki values, this is stupid simple to figure out (just read the recent papers on the subject)

Based upon the low thujone content of old absinthe (thujone is a stable molecule, and old bottles have been tested), even allowing for a 10% drop per decade, it'd be far below an active concentration.

So maybe it blocks a few ethanol molecules from binding, pre-ban concentrations and current concentrations alike (not that far apart, actually) mean that there's not enough to make a difference in the intoxication. Maybe it's 5.95 beers instead of 6, big deal.
 
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